The Trump admin HAS invaded Minneapolis , Minnesota….
2,400 Detentions….
The video shows a young employee in a reflective vest being hauled away by federal agents from the entrance of a Target store in a Minneapolis suburb.
“I’m a U.S. citizen!” the worker shouted as the armed agents shoved him into an S.U.V. on Monday, after he had directed expletives at one. “U.S. citizen! U.S. citizen!”
In and around Minneapolis in recent days — in quiet residential neighborhoods and busy shopping districts, at gas station and big box store parking lots — similar chaotic scenes are unfolding, an escalation of tensions between residents and federal agents as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration crackdown in Minnesota after the killing of Renee Good by an immigration officer last week.
“It feels like our community is under siege by our own federal government,” said State Representative Michael Howard, a Democrat whose district includes Richfield, where the Target employee and another colleague were seized on Monday….
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The skirmishes between residents and the heavily armed federal agents have been especially nerve-racking for residents of Minneapolis, where the memories of the 2020 murder of George Floyd — and the protests and rioting that followed — are still raw. This time, residents and elected officials say, the fear is not abuses by law enforcement but an encroaching federal government….
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Homeland security officials have made roughly 2,400 immigration-related arrests in Minnesota since Nov. 29, said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the department. Some of those immigrants have been convicted of sex crimes, armed robbery, drug crimes and other offenses, federal officials said. But it was not clear how many of the people immigration agents had arrested had criminal records. The number of arrests does not include protesters.
As the surge has intensified, so have the efforts among activists, community volunteers and live streamers to document federal agents’ aggressive tactics. Federal officials and local residents both say the presence of the other on the street is making the situation worse….
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Somilan Refuge Detentions….
Federal immigration agents in recent days have arrested dozens of refugees in Minnesota who had passed security screenings before being admitted to the United States, according to their lawyers and immigrant rights advocates.
The arrests of the refugees, who are mainly from Somalia and include children, come after an announcement last Friday that the Trump administration would “re-examine thousands of refugee cases through new background checks,” focusing on people who have yet to obtain green cards after arriving in the United States. But that announcement, by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, did not say that the refugees would be subject to arrest and transfer to immigrant detention facilities.
Citizenship and Immigration Services did not respond to emailed questions on Tuesday. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that detained the refugees, according to the lawyers, also did not respond.
Michele Garnett McKenzie, executive director at the Advocates for Human Rights in Minneapolis, said most of the detainees were being transferred to facilities in Texas. She estimated that at least 100 people had been detained….
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NY looks to allow its states resident to be able to Sue ICE agaents for damages in State courts….
During her annual State of the State address in Albany, Hochul (D) said “protecting New Yorkers” was her top priority and that now includes “standing up to ICE agents who abuse their power.”
“Power does not justify abuse,” Hochul said. “And if someone’s constitutional rights are violated here in the state of New York, I say they deserve their day in court.”…
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The work underway in states such as Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey includes efforts to ban ICE officers from wearing masks and bills that would bar them from later securing employment in state or local police departments.
If approved, Hochul’s push to open up ICE agents to civil liability would almost certainly be challenged by the Trump administration….
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No Federal Civil Rights investigations against ICE agents actions….
The Justice Department does not believe there is currently any basis to open a criminal civil rights investigation into the killing of a woman by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, a top department official said Tuesday.
The decision to keep the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division out of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good marks a sharp departure from past administrations, which have moved quickly to probe shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials for potential civil rights offenses…
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The resignations of the lawyers in the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section, including its chief, were announced to staff on Monday, days after lawyers were told the section would not be involved in the probe. The Justice Department on Tuesday said those prosecutors had requested to participate in an early retirement program “well before the events in Minnesota,” and added that “any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
Founded nearly 70 years ago, the Civil Rights Division has a long history of investigating shootings by law enforcement even though prosecutors typically need to clear a high bar to mount a criminal prosecution.
In prior administrations, the division has moved quickly to open and publicly announce such investigations, not only to reflect federal jurisdiction over potential civil rights violations but also in hopes of soothing community angst that sometimes accompanies shootings involving law enforcement….
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